To Define a Destiny
by ajd09
Summary: Sometimes, you are given a second chance to finish what you started. Akatsuki can attempt to achieve their mission, but Naruto will never give up. Even if he has to die trying! Pairings decided, but not prime focus. Ready to accept any feedback.
1. I Won't Let You

**A/N: This is a work in progress. I'm planning on making it a decent length (80,000 to 120,000 words) but we'll see how it goes. We start in Naruto, during the Pein invasion. I hope you have read to and passed this point, as this may contain SPOILERS! Please give me feedback, as I've only had ten reviews after 79,000 words…I am not asking for sympathy, but if you like or hate it, please tell me why. That's all I ask ;)**

**To Define a Destiny: By AJD09**

**Chapter 1: I Won't Let You**

"So…should we sit just sit here and wait for you to bring peace to the world!" Nagato stared down a hesitant Naruto. He quickly grew impatient. "Give me a break! How can I believe Jiraiya now! There's no such thing as real peace! It's impossible as long as we're living in this accursed world!" Naruto stared a slightly worried glare at Jiraiya's former protégé.

"Then..I will break the curse!" Naruto answered his words with a calm, confident demeanor. "If there's such a thing as peace, I will find it!" Nagato's eyes narrowed. "I will never give up!"

Nagato now felt a jolt of shock. However, not much later, he let out a crazed laugh. "I also said faith is better than any plan! Jiraiya, nor even the ninetails jinchuuriki, has the means to create peace!" Nagato's body began pulling in mass amounts of chakra and the rods in his back shot out. Muscles reformed on his once malnourished body and he broke out of his chair with a shinra tensei.

Naruto shielded himself from the debris and desperately called out for him. "Nagato, don't do this to yourself! Everything you've worked so hard to do will be destroyed by your own hands!" As he attempted to look back to Nagato, he was pierced by a rod. Naruto felt his body being slightly paralyzed, worse than just moments ago. _He's way stronger now!_

The red-haired man pulled Naruto close and grinned. "Didn't I tell you? It's too late for Jiraiya's idealisms now! If I have to, I will take a thousand more lives with these hands of mine!" Naruto forced himself to grab the rod and snap it off. With sage chakra assisting him, he swiftly managed to kick nagato back into the wall.

"I'm not going to kill you, but you can count on me taking those arms of yours! I will not rest until you are incapable of killing!" Naruto created two clones and prepared to make his assault. Nagato recovered and bounced back at him with the two clones closing in, he was forced into using shenra tensei. The blast created a cloud of smoke and gave Naruto his chance to grab the Rinnegan users arms. "This is my answer!" The man shrieked as Naruto swiftly used his foot to push and his arms to pull. A loud tearing noise made Konan cringe. The armless foe rolled on the floor as Naruto bowed his head. "I'm sorry, but you gave me no choice." With a saddened face, Naruto looked to Konan, and then turned to leave. _Why didn't she step in at all? I thought she was ready to defend him when I arrived here. _Naruto chewed his lip as he fixed his gaze back forward. _Something feels off…_

Before Naruto could imagine it, two chakra rods came out of the ground and pierced his lungs. As Nagato rose out of the ground, the armless one dispersed in a cloud of white smoke. Naruto's eyes widened at the obvious fact. _He knew the kage bunshin technique all this time, just like the book…_ Nagato grew grimmer than before and forced his chakra over Naruto. "If that was your answer, then this is my rebuttal. You put up a good fight, and I admire your effort, but that's as far as you go, Uzumaki Naruto. You should give up on making me give up." Naruto could feel his life draining as the Rinnegan assaulted his mind.

A flash of all the villagers and ninja he met shot through his mind. He remembered the way his stubborn personality had slowly pulled him from the darkness and into the hearts of so many. One by one, he could see their smiling faces: Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Tsunade, Sai, and finally Jiraiya. In his mind, Jiraiya put a hand on Naruto's head with a grin saying, 'that's it Naruto, there's no need to push yourself to the point of annihilation. Tell you what: How 'bout a nice hot bowl of ramen tonight?' Naruto couldn't help but smile back at him. _No! I haven't finished this yet! _

Nagato watched as the barely live boy pulled himself closer to him. Coughing up blood, Naruto smiled as he rested his hands on Nagato's shoulders. "Stubborn until the end. I've tasted love and acceptance before, boy. It's what made you weak in the end, and why your petty final attempt failed. Capture of the ninetails complete."

Naruto closed his eyes and forced a final grin. _Double Rasengan! _Nagato had no sign of the attack as his shoulders were blown to pieces. Konan ran to his aid, but Naruto could no longer decipher her words. He felt warm, knowing he'd never given up. _Screw your rebuttal! _

OoOoOo

"What the? Hey Kyuubi, where am I?" Naruto searched his surroundings, seeing that it had resemblance towards the inside of his conscious. It was darker, and felt more damp than before. "Kyuubi?" Feeling uneasy, he channeled sage chakra and attempted to find the fox. _This is strange…I was fighting Nagato a second ago. Am I dead then? _The blonde grabbed his hair and restrained from pulling. "No, no, no, no! Not now, There's so much left to do! Sasuke! Hokage! I'm only 16, my father told me I was destined to fight the masked man! I still haven't-!"

A loud crash came from behind him that made Naruto immediately panic. What appeared to be a luminescent white tidal wave smashed around the corner. The tunnel he was in was quickly about to be overtaken. Naruto refused to find out what it meant and started following a red line. _This line…is it the Kyuubi's? _The fluid began making a heinous roar as he navigated the dark tunnel. _It's catching up. I don't recognize any of this…Where am I going? _ A maroon light appeared ahead of him. _Time to find out!_

As he entered, a massive, circular room revealed itself. The top proved to be the source of the strange light. The red line led straight to the center. There was a box on a pedestal raised up on a mound. _A box?_ Now, the mysterious white liquid exploded out of the pushed himself to the limit just to get to the box. _It's rising too fast! This box better work miracles_ Naruto took a final leap and landed on the mound. Quickly, he thrust his hand into the box, feeling like he reached into another dimension all together. Suddenly, his hand finally grabbed something. _What? _Naruto pulled hard on it and revealed a sword. A voice echoed as the white fluid vanished inches from the teen. 'I didn't think you had it in you! Not bad, Naruto!' He could feel his body go limp as he slowly lost consciousness once more.

OoOoOoOo

"Hey, wake up!" His vision sluggishly returned and his breath regulated. He pushed himself up and stared at his human alarm clock. She glared at him with piercing green eyes, a darker brown hair with a reddish tint, and a body that could make his nose bleed. Correction, it did. The women could notice his stare and was quick to punish him with a hard slap. "You pervert, don't you know who I am?"

The blond man stood up finally and looked himself over: His clothes were solid black, just like hers, and they both had swords at their side. "Where are we? I'm Naruto, but I can't remember anything else." Another take around the surrounding revealed a serene and peaceful village, full of happy children running around and loving couples holding hands. He then noticed a bag of various drinks knocked over on the floor.

The woman looked at him. He had to be around her age when it came to appearance, but he genuinely seemed new to it all. With a sigh, she scooped up her spilled bag. "You came flying out of the sky and landed right on me. Shouldn't you be training or something? You must be a new recruit." Naruto stared blankly at her, making her curl her fist and rest it on her hip. "Oh, come on. You have the attire of a shinigami, there's no way you just got here!" The blonde looked down at himself again with a troubled face. She could see his concerns and let out an extended sigh.

"Just tell me where we are. Why am I dressed like this? I feel like there's something I have to do right now." Naruto put his hand on his chin and thought long and hard. Finally, she put a hand on his shoulder.

"Listen, Naruto right?" He nodded. She had a serious tone, but her face was really not concerned for him either way. "I am Yasu. This place is called Soul Society. I belong in the group known as shinigami. I'm also a vice captain. If you just got here, whatever was important about your actual life is over." The blonde stared at her with his eyes wide. "You have died, Naruto." Following her words, Naruto panicked. A blanket of spiritual pressure began rising that made even her sweat. His hands rose to his head and he began shaking uncontrollably. Yasu herself was being overpowered by its initial intensity. _Impossible! Another man show's up like this?_ Yasu raised her spiritual pressure now. _I hope I have enough! His signature is stronger than the others. _She forced her hands on his shoulders and let all of her pressure out. "Naruto, snap out of it!"

As if her voice somehow got to him, his pressure plummeted. She dropped to her knees and the blonde passed out once more. The woman gasped for air, sweating bullets. After a moment, she reassessed the man. "Naruto, huh? He really must have died in a brave way. Not just that, but against a very powerful person. What world are these people from?"

-**A/N-**

There you have my first shot at the always risky NarutoXBleach crossover. I really am a fan of short first chapters, but you can expect my chapters to be in the range of 6-8K. Thank you for those who read this! You at least proved that it was worth a shot!


	2. Get a Grip

A/N

I know, long gap. I want to say I couldn't quite punch in seven-thousand words this chapter, but I figure that would be an awkward length transition anyways. I hope I don't screw this up for you guys…Time line explanation available if requested.

**Chapter 2: Get a Grip**

This time when he woke up, Naruto felt relaxed. He could feel the cushion of the bed he lay on, mixed with the warm temperature of the dim lit room. His body felt strangely nice, and as far as he knew, he was exactly where wanted to be. Then he overheard a conversation just beyond the door.

"Why are you so opposed to this right now? You said yourself that he could be a great asset for this issue, Yasu." She grunted and tried not to strangle the man for his lack of understanding the overall situation.

"Captain Renji, I do not at all doubt what this man is capable of. I'm even willing to recommend him for training. What I AM having trouble with is the fact you want me to keep him here! This is my house, is it not? I barely know him!" The captain seemed to pick his ear and blow her off.

Naruto opted finally reveal himself. The red haired man didn't seem to be a bad person, and therefore, was not trying to hurt Yasu. On top of all this, something smelled pretty darn good. As he slid the door open, the two of them drew their swords and stared at him. Naruto stuck his hand up with a carefree face. "Yo. What's cooking?"

Yasu sheathed her sword at blew a section of her hair out of her face. "You're not even going to ask where you are? Or how about this red-haired guy in who has a white jacket is?"

Naruto shifted his eyes between the captain and vice-captain. After a brief moment of silence Naruto stared back at her and shrugged. "Nope." The clueless ness in this guy made her almost fall over.

"See! I don't want to deal with this guy on a regular basis!" She practically prayed before him for sympathy.

Renji shook his head. "You said he could be a very powerful asset to us in the future, but we also don't know anything about his behavior." Renji looked over to see Naruto burning his tongue on a curry she was making. A sweat drop came over them as they watched him prance around like a fool. "Gonna be one of those kinds of guys, huh?"

"You're going to enjoy driving me mad, aren't you?" Renji let out a feint chuckle as he slid the door open. "We'll meet soon enough, Naruto."

Naruto regained his composure and waved to the man. "Uh, see ya ponytail guy!"

A tick appeared on Renji's forehead. "Hey, dumbass! My name is Aburai Renji. Captain Aburai Renji! One more wise-crack like that and I'll take you down before you knew I was mad!"

Naruto snickered. "I already know you're mad, so it looks like I'll be fine after all. And my name's not dumbass, it's Naruto..."He hesitated and tried to shake his thoughts back. "And I'm going to be the…next…" Naruto felt his head pound as he attempted to speak his goal. _What is it? What do I need to do so badly?_

Renji could see the young man struggling. With a look to Yasu, she nodded to him. She already knew Naruto was struggling to find the answers. "I expect to see him in training soon then. Thank you, Yasu." The captain shut the door and left quietly.

Yasu shifted her attention back to Naruto. "As if I have much of a choice. Man, I suck at taking care of people!"

OoOoOoOo

"Hinata! Can you hear me?" The pink haired women came into to her sluggish vision. She leaned forward and stared at the rubble around her. For a moment, she thought she was in another place all together. And then she saw the Hokage monument, instantly reminding her of the chaos that became of Konoha. Sakura laid a hand on her back. "Are you alright?"

Before she answered, the man she loved popped into mind. "Naruto! Where's Naruto?" Sakura held a mixed smile of worry and hope.

"Kiba left to go get him. He should be back any minute." Hinata's face sank in worry, but Sakura brightened up. "Don't worry so much! According to Kiba, Pein's scent is gone, and they wouldn't leave without Naruto."

"Like we said, he's troublesome, but that knucklehead wouldn't go down that easily." Shikamaru gimped on his leg to the group, smirk on face. Hinata nodded with a relieved smile.

In the meantime, Gai and his team had rolled in and were mourning the death and cursing their untimely mission. Neither Gai nor Lee had a 'youthful' stature to them anymore. Neji checked up on his cousin, thankful that she at least made it through. He found Ko even made it. Ten-Ten herself couldn't find it within herself to pick up her teams morale. Not a time like this.

Then Kiba returned with a body draped on Akamaru. "Sakura! Do something!" At that point, their hearts sank and faces paled. A limp body of Naruto was carefully placed on the ground and Sakura immediately began any medical procedure she could think of. Tears began to run wild as she found no heart beat and evidence of blood in the lungs. "No." It was simply an impossibility in her mind. Any second, the blond would jump up with a grin yelling for ramen, as if nothing happened. Her hands shook, feeling the warmth of his body fading. His brain had likely died from the lack of oxygen. What was left of them had gathered around, jaws dropped and eyes wide. Hinata had since been releasing a waterfall as Kiba attempted to comfort her.

"Naruto." Sakura coarsely said to his lifeless body. His face had a wide smile glued on it, as if to mock his own situation. Her fist punched a crater next to them as a hand rested on his chest. More tears fell as she looked up as if to summon him from the clouds. "Naruto! It's my fault! I'm sorry, please! The group among her wanted to say something, but the lump in their throats made talking impossible. "Come back!"

OoOoOoOo

"Madara, Nagato lost his arms. It's been too long; the Ninetails will not be extractable." Zetsu stood behind a very angry masked man. "Nagato will not be of use to us anymore, except his rinnegan of course. However, Konan has taken him elsewhere. What would you have me do?"

Madara swirled his sharingan around as he glared at Zetsu. "They didn't even think to get the body from Konoha!" As if to compose himself, he sighed. "Inform Sasuke that his former village and best friend have both been destroyed. Make sure he knows that I can give him Itachi's eyes as well. I will retrieve the rinnegan that rightfully belongs to me." Zetsu departed with haste, leaving Madara to ponder. "However disastrous it was to lose the Ninetails, Konoha has finally been incapacitated. Perhaps I can modify my plans. I do still have Sasuke."

Suddenly, a crash against the deep cave wall shook the red eyed man into shock. "What the?" Before him appeared to be a massive beast with a hole in its chest. It rushed to bite him, but Madara just fazed right through it. _What in the world is this thing? It can't be a tailed beast… _Quickly, the beast turned its head and blasted a beam of energy at him. _Is that a tailed beast canon? _Once again, he disappeared, only punch through its head. It Roared and flailed in pain, but eventually seemed to evaporate.

Madara's eye spun wildly as he stood perplexed. _I wonder if there's more…maybe I should pay a visit to Konoha._ "I suppose Nagato can wait for now…"

OoOoOoOo

Yasu had just finished explaining to Naruto how he shouldn't need food anymore. The blond stared at her with a seemingly concentrated face. Upon her finishing, there was no question that could have been left unanswered.

"Then why were you cooking in the first place?" The query knocked the wind out of her sail and made her stumble over words. Naruto smiled. "It wasn't that good anyways."

Yasu exploded in anger with a flushed face. "That's not the point! All I wanted to do is make today less boring, and you had to go and eat my only chance!" Naruto cringed as if she was going to hit him, making her pull back. Seeing he was in the clear, he sighed in relief. "Why did you think I would hit you for that?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I just figure that's what girls typically do, right?" She raised an eyebrow at that.

"Man, if only I knew you felt that way. I wouldn't have hesitated." The comment genuinely seemed to make Naruto laugh for the first time. She had to admit, having him around was making the day go by faster. "Alright, I want to make one thing clear." He tilted his head at her. "I've been ordered to allow you vacancy in my house." Naruto seemed to pause in thought for a while before having an 'ah ha' moment. She twitched an eye at his slow reaction. _I guess 'vacancy' is too complicated for this guy._ "But that means you may never make a romantic move on me! Strictly professional, alright?"

Naruto laughed harder than he did before. "I guess that's fair. The way you are, I imagine you've never had to worry about 'romantic moves' on you." Yasu scoffed before turning the other way. _Another asshole, huh? Never a decent guy in this world. _Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "But thanks, Yasu! I feel like this has never happened to me before." The honest tone in his voice made her turn her head and slightly open her mouth. _I wonder if he had a family. _Her expression dropped to a sadder tone. _And I still feel like I never had one either…_

Naruto could sense the change in mood and switched subjects. "What's this about training? It sounds like a lot of fun!" This made Yasu's expression brighten up once more.

"I'd reserve my judgment if I were you! First you have to build strength, speed, and stamina. Then, you have to prove yourself in zanpakuto duels." Naruto tilted his head. "And finally, you have to prove competent in kidou." Satisfied with her intimidation tactics, she crossed her arms in a preemptive victory.

Naruto pumped both of his fists down in excitement. "Awesome! I don't know what a 'zanpakuto' is, or 'kidou', but I've been itching to do something ever since I woke up!" Yasu looked at him critically.

"What makes you think it's easy? I'll have you know, it took me sometime to figure it out myself. I'm quite good at what I do, too." She watched as her words fell on deaf ears.

"Let's train!" She crossed her arms with a critical disposition.

"This is the only day off I've had in a little while. Do you really think I want to spend it teaching a toddler how to walk?" Naruto rubbed under his nose with a smirk.

"Do I hear a hint of fear in your words?" Her irked reaction appeared to be exactly what his was hoping it would be. "And besides, you'll never get ahead of life spending your life on the couch. And eating curry on top of that! You must be trying to get fat!"

"Alright, you cocky bastard. Let's see if you can keep up with me! Meet me outside."

OoOo

Yasu and Naruto met in the backyard and she explained what the goal was. "Okay, I'm not going to use anything fancy, just good ol' fashioned running." Naruto finished stretching and smirked.

"Beat you there!" With astonishing speed, Naruto bolted off in a random direction. Yasu's jaw dropped as she scrambled in pursuit.

"You idiot, you don't even know where you're going!" She actually had to shunpo just to catch up. Upon getting on an equal pace with him, Naruto glinted a smile her way. "Alright, we're going to make this a quick race; see that building over there?" She pointed at an odd tower that lay about twenty miles away. Naruto nodded. "Good, the goal is to touch the tower, and get back to my house. Let's see if you can hold this pace for that long." Yasu noted that the distance that most would find demoralizing actually didn't faze him at all. In fact…

"Awesome, now I know where I'm going!" Naruto began to speed up even faster, pushing Yasu to her ground speed limit. Upon her catching up, Naruto unknowingly began utilizing spiritual pressure. At first, it casually extended his strides. _Is that a shunpo already? _Within moments, he began flash stepping faster and farther than before. _How could he know how to do that already? _Soon, he was already leaving her view. _Aw crap! He's winning!_ Yasu smirked, confident in her shunpo. _Let's see how quick he learns. _

Naruto raced forward with pure joy and adrenaline running his actions. Swiftly approaching the half-way point, he was caught off guard when he saw Yasu sticking her tongue out as she passed in blurs. He narrowed his eyes with a smirk. "I'm not going to let you beat me that easily!" Pushing harder, he pursued her and made his way back to the house.

All attempts that he made to catch her became more and more feeble. Just as he would close in on Yasu, she would flash away at farther intervals. _I have to win this race! _Summoning all his small knowledge of what he was doing, he forced himself to go beyond his perceived limits.

Yasu watched as he began to pass her once more. "It's useless, you know?" He just grinned back at her and continued forth. She smiled to herself. _He's way better at this than I thought. There's something strange about this guy after all. _With only a mile left, she doubled her speed and completely blew past Naruto.

OoOo

"Hey…" Naruto panted a little, feeling the draw on his body from flash stepping. "I thought you weren't going to try anything fancy." He met her with a grin before panting more. "What were we doing just now anyways?" She noted his lack of fatigue as he rose back upright. Only experienced shunpo users were supposed to be able to reach his speed, and even then, they should have been more winded than that.

Yasu wiped the sweat of her forehead. "It's called a shunpo. It allows shinigami to seemingly flash set distances. The more times you use it, the greater you become at traveling distances. Some can go great distances, but slightly sluggishly, and others can go great distances almost instantaneously." He stretched himself out for a while, regaining his composure. She put her hands on her hips and interrogated him. "Are you sure you're new to these things? A beginner should never be able to flash step like you did."

Naruto stared at her blankly before smiling. "I still couldn't beat you though." He looked down at himself and questioned it himself. _Why does it feel like I've done it before? _ "Is it really that uncommon?" Yasu nodded. He narrowed his eyes. His posture appeared less playful. "I'm not sure myself. I just felt it and my body moved naturally. Maybe there's something I'm subconsciously trying to prove to myself…What was I like when I lived? What sort of things did I aspire to be?" He clenched his fist with a somber face. "And why is it every time I try to recall my life, I just feel an empty void in my heart? I'm a shell of my former identity." At this point, the man who was bursting with life became a defeated, dying man.

The playful stance Yasu once held faded into a more depressed tone. Her shoulder length hair suspended slightly ahead of her peripherals as her head sank slightly. "Enough." Naruto looked to her with a questioning face. She looked back up to him with a glare. "You don't think we've all been left wondering what it was like to be alive? When we go on patrol and see the way living beings prosper, you don't think we yearn for that same pleasure?" The revelation took Naruto aback and he lowered his head with guilt. "Like it or not, we died. The things in our past lives cannot be changed, and you can't know how important or insignificant you really were. But it's not the end; no, it's the beginning to a new path. We've been graced by our zanpakutos to become shinigamis. It means we were given a second chance to make a difference. Why are you hesitating within yourself? Why let things you can't change keep you from moving forward? Stop moping around, moron! Get a grip!" She finished her speech with a quite powerful tone of guts.

The words reached him to the core. Evident due to the shock in his eyes, Naruto didn't even realize how much he had been dragging himself and Yasu down with his voiced concerns. He looked to the side and observed the beautiful scenery around him once more. _This is home now, huh? _The sunlight was brilliant as it bounced off the clear lakes and lush trees. _I guess she's got a point. After all, this is all I've known. Feels weird being a day old._

The atmosphere around them was uncommonly quiet, yet not really awkward. She turned away to let him digest his thoughts. "You're going through the academy tomorrow. It will either take years or months, depending on how fast you pick up on things." Before she could leave, Naruto stopped her with his calm voice.

"Yasu, thank you for that. It'll take a while, but I think I will be able to move forward from here." She blushed and felt good inside at his gratitude. It was the same as him acknowledging her as an individual.

Yasu turned back to him with a smile. "I've only know you for a short time, Naruto, but I do appreciate everything you're company." He rubbed the back of his head with a nervous laugh. "You don't have a last name, do you?" Naruto searched his mind, but found nothing and showed it through a head nod. She gave him a more encouraging smile. "Would you like one? I've always wanted a sibling."

He was taken back. "Are you asking me to be you're brother right now? Why me?"

"Because you're the only one who I can really relate so far. I feel like I've been alone my whole existence too. Come on, we'll just see where the afterlife takes us!" Yasu and Naruto stared at each other for a while before he grinned.

"Alright, let's give it a shot then! From here on out, you and I are brother and sister!" It was a strange sensation the felt as he said it, but it felt kind of nice.

Yasu smiled in relief. She crossed her arms and widened her stance. "Well then, you can call yourself Yamazaki Naruto now!" The two shared a grin now as the sun began to set tranquilly beyond the horizon.

OoOoOoOo

"Watch out, Shikamaru!" Kiba instantly detected a new threat enter the area and he quickly moved in to counter the white monstrosity. As him and Akamaru ripped through it, several more appeared with a loud roar. The group left bunched together for safety. Neither Hinata nor Sakura seemed in any condition to face these opponents. Neji eyed the foes carefully.

"What on earth are these things? They don't have chakra coils. Forget that, they don't even look alive!" With that said, Ten-Ten began an assault of ninja tools at the foes. They were sluggish, and so took a pretty hefty toll of damage. As the largest one of the beast pulled back to roar in anger, a green flash zipped to him.

"Leaf coiling whirlwind!" Gai and Lee both carried out a simultaneous roundhouse kick to its face, causing it to de-materialize. Now there were only six left. Shikamaru pulled his weight and captured them all in his shadow bind technique.

"Got 'em! Not sure for how long though." He struggled against them, feeling his chakra drain way faster than typical adversaries.

"Good work Shikamaru! Now they can't do anything!" As he zipped forward to launch a kick at one, a sudden blast of energy flew out of its mouth. Gai was smashed back into Lee with a fast launch speed. Neji quickly analyzed the monster once more.

"This thing doesn't have chakra, but it has the spirit half of it. We're going to need a plan, and now!" Lee pushed his sensei off of him, seeing him unconscious. He was shaken, not only was Naruto dead, but his sensei had been incapacitated as well. It was all on the remaining seven to do something. However, as soon as he thought hope started to fade, reinforcements arrived.

"Fang rotating fang!" Out of the blue, six wild disks tore through the remaining beast. Upon the cessation of the technique, Hana and Tsume took their ground. Behind them were Shikaku, Inoichi, and the cat-masked ANBU captain.

"Listen up! We need to retreat! Konoha is lost for now, you understand?" Shikaku commanded the young ones well. "We can't do anything until these wretched beast have moved on, let's go!" Every second, another heinous roar was let out and the environment was terrifying. With urgency, everyone forced themselves to snap back to reality.

"Dad, how many are there?" Shikamaru watched as his dad nodded his head.

"Too many. We have to go, now!" Inoichi answered for him as he stared at his daughter. Ino appeared to be emotionally stable out of most the girls. "Help your friends get over this. It's best if we leave the dead until-!"

"No! We need…Naruto deserves better than this! He's the reason we all aren't dead!" A shocking burst from Hinata sounded out that made Inoichi pull back.

Sakura stared up with a serious face. "We aren't sure if Akatsuki is still waiting to take his body for extraction…We cannot leave him unprotected." The ANBU captain nodded to her logic.

"Very well, Naruto will come with us, but we must make haste. We have one more team of Anbu to meet up with. That is all that remains." The captain held a hasty tone as they prepared to depart. Ko assisted Hinata and Inuzuka's dog's took the injured and Naruto.

After evacuating the village, Anko's squad met up with them. Yamamoto and Sai stared in shock at Naruto's corpse. "How many more are behind you?" The dark haired women interrogated the masked Anbu. His initial response was a shaking of his head.

"This is it. Including you three, there are only eighteen Leaf ninja's left alive." A deep shock shook her to her core. The cat masked man held his hand up. "Save your mourning. We must make haste to Suna. Let's go."

OoOoOoOo

A red eye swirled, intrigued more by the white beast that flooded the area of Konoha. "They congregate in areas of the freshly dead, do they?" Upon detection, one charged him at full speed. Quickly, Tobi caught the beast's eye with his. "Not so fast. You're mine!"

OoOoOoOo

"This place…I need to report back immediately. This is out of hand." A shinigami noted the activity of hollows as he scouted the new world connected to the Soul Society. He had only just begun his investigation, but he knew thirty minutes here had been enough to establish a valid assessment with an infestation of this magnitude.

He swiftly navigated back through the tunnel and made his way back to Soul Society. Upon arrival, another shinigami jumped up in shock. "Ah, hey, he's back!"

The scout was puzzled. Before he knew it, Captain Hitsugaya flashed before him. "The captain commander has requested your presence immediately." The man gulped, following behind the captain.

The doors shut behind him and every captain was present. His eyes drifted to the man centered behind the desk. His lighter shade amber hair fell near his shoulders and was casually combed. In his head, he judged his appearance to be around late thirties, but he was aware the captain commander was much older than that.

The commander cleared his throat and spoke calmly. "You were only supposed to do a brief reconnaissance. What has taken you so long?" A sweat broke out over the low seated scout.

"W-well, you see…I actually thought thirty minutes was pretty fast." A hand rose, commanding him to cease his lips.

"What do you mean, 'thirty minutes'? You've been gone…" The man glanced at his clock. "Twenty-Five hours exactly." The man's jaw dropped, going over in his head everything. The first division captain raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting you were only gone for thirty minutes in this new area?" The scout swiftly nodded his head. This made the man let off.

"S-sir! There are hollows flooding this world! I didn't have time to find locals, but there was far too much spiritual energy there!" Renji looked between the man and his old friend.

"Ichigo, if what he's saying is accurate…the time difference is…" Renji peered at his fingers briefly. "If you were to spend a day in this place, fifty days will have gone by here. That's far too unstable."

Ichigo rubbed his chin in thought. "There are ways of dealing with that. I'll talk to Kisuke Urahara about that." He looked back to the scout with a smile. "That's all we needed, you may return to your normal duties." With a bow, the man quickly left the room. Now, the dull orange haired man stared to Renji. "We need to see what the general population is like down there. Due to this time barrier, I only want captains and lieutenants to know about this. Renji, I need you to go there for a day to gather all the information you can. Cool?" With a sigh, he nodded. Ichigo acknowledged that and turned back to everyone else. "I want this to be a secret, but if rumor comes around about it, don't flat out deny it. Feed the rumor until we can develop a way to stabilize the time difference. Dismissed."

OoOoOoOo

A blond walked with his hands pocketed and head down. He wasn't really in that bad of a mood, just disappointed. "I thought the academy was going to be difficult. They were just talking forever and trying to impress us or something." He kicked a rock as he approached his new home. "At least Yasu can make me feel competitive." Hearing Captain Renji's voice, he hugged the wall and eavesdropped.

"You're going to have to do a bit more work for about two months. There is a new portal, but the time differential is fifty-to-one." His eyes drifted to the door for a moment before regaining eye contact with his lieutenant. She frowned.

"It's not like I didn't handle most the paper work anyways." She sighed and smiled. "Luckily, division nine has been pretty calm lately. What's the reason you're leaving exactly?" Renji rubbed his hair, looking to the door once more, and then shrugged.

"Well, the scout only confirmed a massive overpopulation of hollows. However, he never made contact with the natives, and apparently there's a lot of spiritual energy there." Yasu nodded, subtly impressed by the world. Renji turned to leave, but turned to her with a smirk. "I'll bet that Naruto guy came from there!" Both Yasu and Naruto's jaws dropped. "We'll see you anyways. I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, seeing as it's going to take time to stabilize the time barrier." He opened her door and facepalmed. "Oh yeah, and I saw that document you submitted. I'm not sure what you two are planning, becoming siblings after a day, but good luck. I approved it and it's been added to the records. Don't miss me now!" She rolled her eyes.

As the door swung open, Naruto swung around wildly, trying to play off the eavesdropping he did. Both men scoffed at each other. "What are you doing, tomato head?" Renji tried to mask his anger with a struggling smirk.

"That's Captain Aburai Renji, dumbass. I'll cycle you through the academy for a decade!"

Naruto cringed at the thought, but quickly recovered into a rebuttal. "I'll graduate before you come back then! And it's not dumbass…its Yamazaki Naruto!" Excitement filled his body as he finally had a family name to fall back on. Renji smiled, flashing away in the blink of an eye.

Upon returning inside, he turned to Yasu with a faint smile before passing her. With concern, she questioned, "How much of that conversation did you hear?" Not even turning back to her, he opened the door to his room.

"All of it. I'm going to take a power nap." She looked at his door as it shut with a frown. Naruto's voice wasn't as upbeat as she figured it would have been.

"I guess I need to give him some time to cope with this information." With a sigh of worry, she sat down on the couch and picked up paper work. "I hope he doesn't fall apart with anxiety and curiosity over this new world." Only time would tell how Naruto was going to perform now.

A/N

Hey, apologies for the long wait. I won't make up excuses this time. I had a couple writer's blocks and a lot of gaming this week :(. To be honest, I've only got one person asking for an update, so I'll take this time to apologize to Dragonblaze66. I'm sorry I played video games and youtube surfed rather than working hard on my story :p. Really guys, I thank you for the promising signs you've given me on this cross over. I'm not even sure if I have the writing capacity to do it, but that's not stopping me. Thanks, I hope you enjoyed!


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